The Tech House Shortlist: January 2025

Long regarded as one of the go-to producers in the UK Dance scene, James Hurr has quickly made his name as a prolific artist, writer and producer. 

With a collaboration roster which reads like a who’s who of Dance, recent projects have seen him working with the likes of Leftwing : Kody, Basement Jaxx, Eli Brown, Danny Howard, Mark Knight and many more. A firm favourite of the Toolroom camp, James Hurr is back on our Trax imprint with his latest single, ‘Di Da Di’ which looks set to tear up the dancefloor. 

Utilising James’ signature tricks and techniques, ‘Di Da Di’ delivers with robust drums, pulsating subs, tight hats, vocal murmuringss of the track title and a hypnotic bassline, resulting in a tune solely created to be blasted out of speakers at 3am! Enjoy!

Di Da Di

James Hurr - Di Da Di (Extended Mix)

RELEASE DATE EXCLUSIVE ON BEATPORT STORE

21 GEN 2023 PREORDER 
03 FEB 2023 EXCLUSIVE 
17 FEB 2023 OFFICIAL

Moreno Pezzolato - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Edit)

DL/Stream: https://Toolroom.lnk.to/HWTHReEditTS

Landing back on the firm during our 20th Birthday celebrations is none other than Danny Howard, who returns to the label with a beefed up edit of a Toolroom classic – ‘Hear What They Hear’ by Adrian Hour. A secret weapon for DJs worldwide, released back in 2016 on Adrian Hour’s ‘Like This’ EP, this B Side became an unlikely hero that still gets hammered today by the likes of John Summit and Eats Everything. As any fan of Toolroom would know, Adrian Hour is a legendary part of the firm who embodies the true underground spirit that the label prides itself on.

Danny Howard himself is a DJ and producer who needs no introduction, radio personality for BBC Radio 1’s Dance Party, label head of Nothing Else Matters and Ibiza resident, Danny Howard has gone from strength to strength throughout his career. With a string of hits from Sonny Fodera’s Solotoko imprint, Ministry of Sound and of course Toolroom to name a few, Danny Howard returns with a solid edit of ‘Hear What They Say’. After doing the rounds at Glastonbury festival this year and beyond, Danny's update has turned one record with a solid dance floor reputation into a certified slammer!

Hear What They Hear (Danny Howard Re-Edit)

DL/Stream

Adrian Hour - Hear What They Hear (Danny Howard Re-Edit)

Back Again

Back Again (Extended Mix)

DL/Stream: https://Toolroom.lnk.to/GoHardTS

This Maltese tech house maestro really has seen his career go from strength to strength in a huge way over the past 18 months. Collaborations with Low Steppa, Tony Romera, Matt Sassari and James Hurr are all confirmed and he has recently been hitting the decks across Australia, Asia, Canada, Ibiza and beyond. He is slowly carving out a real ‘sound’ within the scene, in a time when breaking through the noise is incredibly difficult, this is to the credit of his elite level production prowess and flawless DJ skills!

This track certainly fits into that ‘club banger’ category. Big drums, a seriously funky bassline and some tongue-in-cheek lyrics to raise a smile on those dance floors. This one comes with early and heavy support from Dombresky and Mark Knight!

Go Hard

Jewel Kid - Go Hard

Coins

Coins (Extended)

DL/Stream: https://TRX.lnk.to/FeelRealGoodTS

It’s a big team up on Toolroom Trax between a DJ Mag World Champion and one of the most sought-after producers in the game, it’s Smokin Jo & James Hurr. Smokin Jo revitalised her music catalog last year on Toolroom Trax and the iconic Faith fanzine re-affirming Jo’s status in the underground. A 1992 DJ Mag World Champion, Smokin Jo holds an incredible reputation in dance culture history as being the only female artist to ever achieve this award, so when pairing Smokin Jo with one of today’s highest regarded dance producers, James Hurr, can mean only one thing, a certified dancefloor banger. Awarded as the 18th Most Played Electronic Artist in the World by 1001tracklists in 2024, James Hurr is always welcomed back onto the label as he delivers heavyweight House records time and time again. It’s clear that James’ music resonates with the DJ’s. 

‘Feel Real Good’ is a percussive tech essential, featuring James’ signature chunky drums & percussion underneath super creative vocal chops making this record an exciting club weapon.

Feel Real Good

Smokin Jo, James Hurr - Feel Real Good

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Matroda - Good Girls

Stream/Download

Deltech - Groove With It

Your Body

Your Body (Extended Mix)

Pinky Promise

Vinyl Dreams

The Vibe

Rêve

Buy On Bandcamp

Scoubi - Rêve (Long Play)

My humble beginnings in the mid 90's going to then "Raves" we just called them parties at the State Palace Theater in New Orleans and all over Texas!! These wonderful sounds are what led to now and have had  so much fun with my friends! And got to hang with so many Great Djs with luck! Enjoy!!

DJ LANE (Techno technology mix vol 1.)Samples by Teknitron -Black Scorpion.mp3

It’s the second release on Toolroom Trax of 2021, and for this one, we welcome Ellis Moss for his label debut!  It’s a driving Tech Houser with rolling percussion alongside a quirky vocal snippet. The whirling break down turns this into a club ready cut. It’s the perfect fit on our underground sub-label.

The Shake

Ellis Moss - The Shake

Leipzig original Christian Fischer, DJ and producer for over 25 years by now, is renowned for his hybrid and flexible, heavy-hitting yet fragile techno style which fluctuates and oscillates between anthemic house and seminal electro while also embracing the most frantic frequencies. To put it short: his melody-driven, uplifting and progressive sets are legendary.

His breathtaking flexibility and scope is down to Christian’s residencies where Fischer honed his skills, amongst them at Leipzig city’s famed Distillery club, one of Germany´s longest-standing techno vaults. Running for over four years, his bimonthly Definition Night at Distillery has become a steady fixture in the event calendar, with guest DJs like Dave Clarke, Mark Broom, Spektre, Funk d´Void, Joseph Capriati, Renato Cohen and many more joining Fischer´s techno ritual.

His equally successful imprint Definition Records has become an integral part of the international techno scene over the years while growing into a varied outlet that has helped to shape the movement. Called into existence in 1999, Fischer released over 50 EPs which featured over 100 artists from all around the globe, amongst them Martin Eyerer, Justin Berkovi, Eelke Kleijn, AKA AKA, Valentino Kanzyani, and Davide Squillace, just to name but a few.

Christian is a happy-go-lucky fellow who always embraced stylistic advancement and technical innovation, new DJing technologies and new ways of thinking and propelling himself. Jump-starting his career on the befriended Statik Entertainment label which is his primary outlet for offshoot projects of the more experimental kind  until today and sits elegantly next to his more mainstream-orientated ventures, he has, since then, released celebrated EP on imprints as varied as Soma, Craft Music, Patterns, Takt, Toolroom and Loaded, as well as producing remixes for Slam, Outsiders, Alex Young and German singer Sabrina Setlur.

In2001, he teamed up with colleague DJ Murphy, the sensational turntable talent Fischer unearthed on one of his countless Brazil tours and signed for his label straight away, to produce and play under the moniker Deckmonsters. With their crazy turntable tricks, they broke every preconception what a DJ set is like, releasing their first longplayer in 2008, swiftly followed by Christian Fischer’s solo debut album “Bryzant Games” released on Bryzant in 2009, and his second longplayer, “Change Disko”, a very special album, containing the right track for the right moment in the right club. He also has tag-teamed in the studio with an array of producers, such as Whebba, AKA AKA, SuperFlu and Lucca.

In 2009, Christian started Bryzant Radio – a bi-weekly radio show. With the best tunes from the clubs around the world and featuring guest-DJ mixes, Christian invites DJs like Renato Cohen, Spektre, Perc, Bruno Morphet. The show is broadcast through the best radio stations worldwide from Ibiza to Canada and from Philippines to Hungary.

Your Body (Extended Mix)

DJ Christian Fischer

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